McKenzie Terry wipes away tears with her dad, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jonathan Terry, after he made a surprise visit to her middle school in Springfield on Monday after returning from deployment.

HEATHER LEIPHART / The News Herald

By JACQUELINE BOSTICK / The News Herald

Published: Monday, September 30, 2013 at 07:29 PM.

SPRINGFIELD — Two hundred days without her father suddenly ended Monday.

Gathered for a schoolwide assembly, McKenzie Terry was sitting near the window in the back of the Everitt Middle School cafeteria when the announcer called her name. The 14-year-old was wearing a blue and white T-shirt that read “Everitt Volleyball, keep calm and play on,” but she held a nervous smile as she walked in front of all the students to receive her award.

SPRINGFIELD — Two hundred days without her father suddenly ended Monday.

Gathered for a schoolwide assembly, McKenzie Terry was sitting near the window in the back of the Everitt Middle School cafeteria when the announcer called her name. The 14-year-old was wearing a blue and white T-shirt that read “Everitt Volleyball, keep calm and play on,” but she held a nervous smile as she walked in front of all the students to receive her award.

School officials had orchestrated the meeting to reunite McKenzie Terry with her father, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jonathan Terry, who returned home after serving about 200 days in Afghanistan.

“I’m really excited right now to see my daughter,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jonathan Terry said while standing in a hallway, waiting to walk in the cafeteria and surprise McKenzie Terry.

As soon as McKenzie Terry stood in the front of the cafeteria, her father walked out of a room behind her. The eighth-grader covered her face with her hands and walked immediately, sobbing, into his arms.

“I had no clue,” McKenzie Terry said. “And then, I turned around and he was right there.

“It was hard. It felt weird with him still not being there,” she added. Seeing him again, she said, it became clear “he’s finally home.”

Jonathan Terry, a deputy senior contracting official at Afghanistan CENTCOM Joint Theater Support, said it was his second time serving in Afghanistan. The first service was for 220 days; he left for Afghanistan for the second time in March.

“It’s hard being away from them,” Jonathan Terry said. “Fortunately, I feel very blessed to have a great wife and great kids.”

Although he’ll never get used to being away from his family, he said he regularly communicated with them while serving overseas.

“Whether it’s via email or whether another mechanism … I got a chance to talk with them,” Jonathan Terry said. “They were very supportive the entire time.”

Earlier Monday, Jonathan Terry surprised his 8-year-old son, Chase Terry, and 10-year-old daughter, Jadyn Terry, both students at Tyndall Elementary, which had set up a reunion for them.

Chase was at physical education class when he spotted his father on the other side of the field and ran towards him.

“I had nothing to say,” Chase said.

It was the fastest he has ever run, his father said.

Jadyn had expected to greet only her mother when she visited Jadyn’s class. But soon after her mother entered, her father came in, too.

NOTE: Clicking on hashtags in this stream may result in seeing adult material, such as photos or foul language, that appear elsewhere on Twitter. We do not endorse such material, but we do not have control over what items can be found in hashtag searches.